T. J. Osborn1 and P. D. Jones1,21Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK2Center of Excellence for Climate Change Research, Department of Meteorology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract. The CRUTEM4 (Climatic Research Unit Temperature, version 4) land-surface air temperature data set is one of the most widely used records of the climate system. Here we provide an important additional dissemination route for this data set: online access to monthly, seasonal and annual data values and time series graphs via Google Earth. This is achieved via an interface written in Keyhole Markup Language (KML) and also provides access to the underlying weather station data used to construct the CRUTEM4 data set. A mathematical description of the construction of the CRUTEM4 data set (and its predecessor versions) is also provided, together with an archive of some previous versions and a recommendation for identifying the precise version of the data set used in a particular study.